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Republican lawmakers want to stop the IRS from continuing to stockpile ammunition---they have spent $750,000 and now have more than 5 million rounds on hand---so far this year.
And they plan to acquire more.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL. has introduced a bill to block future ammunition purchases by the agency.
Why are they doing this?
Be informed, not misled.
Gaetz announced his sponsorship of the "Disarm the IRS Act" in a July press release. The bill would ban the IRS from acquiring ammunition through direct purchase or otherwise. The bill awaits a potential vote in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Cosponsors of the bill include three additional US House Representatives: Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.)
Why is the IRS amassing firepower?
Epoch News reported this yesterday:
The issue drew national attention after Gaetz appeared on Fox News’ Jesse Waters Primetime last week, saying that the IRS had spent $750,000 in 2022 alone on ammunition.
“Call me old-fashioned, but I thought the heaviest artillery an IRS agent would need would be a calculator, not $725,000 worth of ammunition,” Gaetz said during his appearance on Fox News.
Other bill cosponsors took to social media, questioning the need for a heavily armed tax agency.
“Why is Biden trying to weaponize the IRS?” Rep. Jeff Duncan posted on Twitter on July 7, adding that while the IRS builds up its arsenal, citizen Americans face ammunition shortages.
Rep. Gosar commented on Twitter on July 14 that it was time to disarm “this band of highwaymen and stop them from taking our money under the threat of violence.”
While people may not think of the IRS needing weapons and ammunition, it has a criminal investigation division with armed law enforcement to pursue tax felons.
A 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office said the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division had 2,148 law enforcement officers, 4,461 weapons—including 15 fully automatic firearms—and 5.05 million rounds of ammunition.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, four officers with the IRS have died since 1989 from medical conditions or accidents. None was firearm related.
Are other government agencies building up arsenals of weapons and ammunition?
The short answer is "yes."
OpenTheBooks.com, a nonprofit government watchdog group, released a report titled, "The militarization of the US Executive Agencies" in December 2020. The report details how agencies that people wouldn't normally associate with law enforcement were stockpiling weapons and ammunition.
They reported: "The Environmental Protection Agency owns 600 guns. At the same time, special agents at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are equipped with machine guns and AR15s. Even the Smithsonian Institution employed 620-armed 'special agents,' up from zero officers in 2008."
The detailed report noted that "One hundred and three federal agencies outside of the Department of Defense spent $2.7 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between fiscal years 2006 and 2019 (inflation-adjusted). Nearly $1 billion ($944.9 million) was spent between fiscal years 2015 and 2019 alone.
The CEO of OpenTheBooks.com, Adam Andrzejewski, says "there is no public purpose for rank and file, paper pushing federal agencies to load up on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment."
Takeaway.
Andrzejewski also says that "the public should question why these agencies are armed to the teeth. Not only do they wield legal power, but they are also amassing firepower."
“Just who are the federal agencies preparing to battle?” Andrzejewski wrote.
“Our data shows that the federal government has become a gun show that never adjourns. Taxpayers need to tell Washington that police powers belong primarily to cities and states, not the feds,” he says.
This is concerning, in light of the unbridled passion by our current administration to disarm the American public under the guise of "stopping gun violence."
Guns are not violent. People are.
Our Founding Fathers had a very clear view of that truth.
George Washington said, "People... ought to be armed."
Every Founding Father believed the people should be armed.
Patrick Henry was passionate about even suggesting the people not be armed. He told the Virginia Convention:
"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress?"
"If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?"
Be Informed. Be Discerning, Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Free. Be Prayerful.